Larger fold-down Spryhood for 431/003 Chinook
Hi Forum,

there was some interest in the larger fold-down sprayhood I had made for CHINOOK. Sorry I was too busy last week, but here are some photos.

The winter storage photos are a bit poor, but they may help to understand how we developed the shape of the sprayhood. We tried to find a good compromise for up and down aspects. The ss tube fittings on deck are quick-release click-in fittings, so I can take the whole thing completely off within only minutes.

In up position the sprayhood now is low enough to see things when standing behind the wheel, down it is as much invisible as possible. We had to run the ropes lead aft through the cap, which required some optimisation from the sail maker (was not perfect in the first instance, as can be seen on the detail photo).

In marinas, on anchor, and on nice days we keep it down, most of the time, as otherwise climbing below decks between bridge deck and sprayhood is a bit of a sportive thing. But that is one of the general disadvantages of nearly all the S&S Swans. And I HATE to sit behind the wheel, not being able to see the horizon in FULL 360 degrees, so it has to come down when ever suitable ... :-)

For using the primaries - which I moved back a bit when I replaced the old ones with new SS Selftail-ing Lewmar ones - we have a "fold forward" feature for the aft sprayhood corners, they are on a quick release fitting, but we do not use that much. Due to the fact that I modified the main sheet system and put those winches to the back of the coaming, I can keep the runner / check stay combination on those now, or on the primaries as well, and in light and medium weather conditions we tend to use the secondaries for the genoa. Works just perfect.

(Explanation for runners / checkstays: CHINOOK got a new mast in the nineties, original size, but painted, and triple spreader, with spreader tip cups and full discontinuous rod rig, runners and checkstays. And at a later stage I replaced the -17 headstay with a -22 rod, as I felt the headstay sag was too much. Reckmann made a custom furler up for me, with -22 system strength, but -17 jaw / toggle sizes, and the -17 drum size.)

Any questions, please feel free to ask! We are very happy with the improved cockpit protection we now have. We have used this for 6 years now, and I would not know of anything I would do differently here, now.


Christian
CHINOOK, 431/003

(I hope this post comes out OK. In the preview, the "RETURN"s seem to not be shown.)

Construction 1

Construction 2

Construction 3

Whoops, typing error in the headline, sorry. So people may not find this. Matteo, can you change that? I can't.

Some more photos to follow.

Testing 1

Testing 2

Testing 3

Down position

Deatil required improving

Sailing with sprayhood down

Total view forward

Total view astern 1

Total view astern 2

Dear Christian
I like very much your large sprayhood. With its three arches it creates a nice shape and a better protected area. I like, too, the large area of the clear film. It might only be more delicate when folded.

Thank you,
Matteo45 Grampus 47/016

P.S.
Hi Christian,
What are the quick-release click-in fittings for the ss tubes ? do you have a reference on a catalogue, so that I can understand better, or are they simply quick release pins?
Thank you,
Matteo45

Hi Matteo45

Clear glass: interesting, no folding problem. We have had this now for 6 years or so, and it still is OK. This winter we had the cap washed in a service our sail maker offers, as it had turned green a bit, but even after that we seem to not have a problem with the glass. Just picked it up today from them, looks OK.

But we expect the glass will require replacing once in the lifetime of the textile cap - it last 1/2 as long as the textile cap, as our sailmaker says.

Quick release fitting: this is a spring loaded lock fitting made by Bainbridge in the UK. If you push a little slider sideways the whole tube assembly comes out, kind of a mushroom headed pin sits in the base fitting, locked by this little spring loaded slider. Nice design. Photos below. See also here:

http://www.bainbridgeint.com/Item.aspx?Item=PRD-900248&PartNo=G605S

Christian
CHINOOK 431/003

Whoops, duplicated upload. Sorry. Here is the photo.

... The good thing with this fitting is that (a) no tools required to take the tube set off, and (b) its base is so nicely shaped that once the tubes and jaw / mushroom pin are off you can walk over it, even sit on it, and no problem ...

Dear Christian,<br>

Your explainations are very clear. It s a fantastic job. Bainbridge is distributed in Italy, too, and I agree that it is a very good solution.<br>

Thank you very much<br>

Matteo 45<br>

Grampus 47/016<br><br>

Dear Christian,

I love it!  Thanks for posting!

Chris (full name Christian too) Mabel's Casse Tete  43/003